


Clarity

by PhloxFox (Ravenwood316)



Series: Across The Universe [4]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Angst, Eye Trauma, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mentioned Amputation, Multi, Non Graphic Descriptions of Violence, might be ooc can’t tell anymore, non graphic descriptions of injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:06:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28093623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravenwood316/pseuds/PhloxFox
Summary: Dib and Zim are reunited after what they’ve been through and plan their next move.Please read in order
Relationships: Dib & Gaz (Invader Zim), Dib & Professor Membrane, Dib/Zim (Invader Zim), Gaz & Zim (Invader Zim), Lard Nar & Prisoner 777, Lard Nar & Zim
Series: Across The Universe [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1784341
Comments: 7
Kudos: 21





	Clarity

**Author's Note:**

> Yay part four!!!!! Named for the song Clarity by Zedd feat Foxes.
> 
> Tried to tag best I could if I missed something please let me know.

The first thing to register was a shrill beeping sound and a quiet splash as liquid was dripped onto itself. Zim felt like he was floating which was odd because he didn’t like floating. The beeping was getting louder and more consistent and it was making his antennae quiver painfully. Trying to ignore the pain Zim pushed himself mentally to try and break the haze he seemed trapped in. 

As he did new sounds began to surface over the beeping. Voices were being raised but one was yelling louder than the rest. 

“Zim!” The voice was screaming over and over, it felt familiar, but others were yelling for the voice to leave the room. As the voice was removed Zim felt himself suddenly slip back under whatever black warmth he had been struggling against. 

The next time he clawed his way back into the world of the waking he was relieved to feel the solid shape of a firm surface underneath him. He still wasn’t fully aware and couldn’t seem to open his eyes yet but he was enjoying the feeling of rough fabric under his claws. 

Zim let himself drift in the in between he found himself in when he registered a warm weight around one of his hands. His antennae twitched as he slowly came back into himself cracking an eye open just a bit to take in his surroundings. He was lying on a hard mattress staring up at a white ceiling. Opening both eyes a bit more as his senses returned Zim noticed the beeping was still there in the background and everything smelled sterile except for one scent he’d recognize anywhere. 

Slowly he turned his head and froze when he saw the head of dark hair resting against the bed. Dib was out cold gripping his hand like a lifeline. A noise at the door had the Irken snapping towards it with a growl, wanting to protect his sleeping mate. 

“Relax please you’re still a bit unstable, no one is going to hurt your mate.” A medic told him softly as they entered the room. Zim Just turned back to Dib flexing the hand in the human’s grip.

“How long have I been out?” Zim rasped in Irken since it didn’t bother his throat, looking back at the medic. As the two conversed neither of them noticed the human waking up. 

Dib kept his eyes closed trying to decipher the alien languages being spoken. One of the voices was speaking in the almost musical language he’s come to learn as Vortian but the other was one he'd know anywhere.

Dib felt the hand he was holding start to slip away and gripped it tighter before finally opening his eyes. The human sat up to stretch and noticed one of the medics he had been hastily introduced to after first waking up from his own injuries. Ignoring the medic, Dib turned towards his partner and was surprised when instead of bright magenta he was greeted with a heterochromatic gaze of red and purple. The pair stared at each other for a moment like the other would disappear again in the blink of an eye. 

Zim eventually made the first move by sitting up and dragging Dib onto the bed so he could hug him close. 

“I thought I had lost you.” He cried in heavier accented English than normal as Dib hugged back as tight as he could. 

“Me? I thought I had lost _you_ , you stupid bug.” He replied as the medic left to give them time together and to probably tell everyone they were awake. When they pulled away from each other they both set to work looking each other over. Dib took note of Zim’s new eyes, large patches of burnt skin, and the mess of cables replacing his PAK. While Zim fretted over the claw marks on Dib’s face before finding the blaster wound in his side and finally noticing that most of his leg was missing. 

“Dib where is your leg?” Zim asked quietly as he stared at what was left of his human’s right leg.

“I got shot when I escaped my captors on Cyberflux. When I woke up on this ship I was told there was too much damage to save it.” Dib explained before tracing one of the larger burns. 

“How did you get these? And why are your eyes two different colors?” Dib wondered, tipping Zim’s head back to look at his new eyes. 

“I contaminated the water supply on the Massive then broke the sprinkler system. The eyes I took from the Tallest before I killed them. Well Purple was alive when I took his, Red was choking on his own blood.” Zim huffed “They shot you?!” He growled already planning his next murders.

“Wait back up, you killed the Tallest?!” Dib demanded. 

“They tortured not only me but several other Irkens since we were smeets. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been re-encoded, openly mocked and insulted, or charged with war crimes. They shot Skoodge out of a fucking ion cannon because even though he was the first to conquer his assigned planet he was short. They sent me to Earth hoping I’d die before getting there then hoping either you or the planet would kill me. 

“They tried to publicly execute me and instead of realizing that I had deluded myself, I opened a florpus hole that they drove straight into. When they escaped, they made two mistakes. They killed Gir and took you away. If they had just come after me then I probably would have let it go, but they took you Dib. I’d watch all of the universes burn a trillion times before I let anyone hurt you.” Zim growled. 

Dib was about to pull the Irken in for a kiss when the doors to the room slid open to reveal Gir and Minimoose. Upon seeing the sir unit Zim unceremoniously shoved the human off the bed to the floor as he opened his arms for his minions.

“MASTER!!!!!!” Gir screeched as he launched himself into the crying Irken’s arms and was quickly joined by Minimoose. 

“Gir you’re alive!” Zim sobbed dissolving back into Irken as Gaz entered the room. Gaz walked over and helped her brother up while handing him his translator. Dib slid back onto the bed next to Zim as the invader finally realized Gaz was in the room. 

“Gaz? How did you get here?” He asked holding Gir tighter. 

“I got tired of waiting for you two to show back up and got your weird friend Skoodge to bring me to space.” She answered while looking the pair over. 

“What happened to make you both look like shit?” She asked but Dib had a different question in mind. 

“Where’s dad?” He questioned remembering seeing his father when Skoodge’s ship hailed. 

“Somewhere on the ship? I haven’t talked to him since I punched him and you were so worried about Zim I kind of forgot about him.” She shrugged. Zim looked at the two siblings before carefully climbing into Dib’s lap and started purring. 

It took a minute or two but Dib eventually relaxed and pulled the Irken closer. Zim turned to Gaz and told her everything that had happened on the Massive. Dib listened as Zim recounted how he tried hacking into the Massive’s database to find him and how when that failed, he contaminated the entire water supply.

“I knew what would happen once the sprinklers started, but at that point I didn’t care what happened to me. I just wanted Dib back and if I couldn’t have him then I had planned on taking as much of the Empire down with me as I could.” Zim explained as Dib held him closer. 

When Zim had finished his part, Dib shared his own experience with his captors. Zim growled when he mentioned his captors telling him the Irken was dead and getting clawed across the face for defending himself. While Dib talked Zim had Minimoose go gather a few things and quickly set about healing the claw marks on the human’s face and the blaster wound in his side with some kind of fancy laser pointer. After Dib was finished with his side of events Gaz told them about what had happened on her end.

“The base is completely gone Zim. I’m so sorry.” She told Zim who just nodded.

“I figured as much. I’ll miss the computer but what’s been done is done and now I can only move forward. Though it’ll make returning to Earth impossible.” He sighed, gaining the attention of both Membrane siblings.

“What do you mean impossible?” Gaz asked

“An Irken’s base has everything an Irken needs to survive on a planet not set up to house Irkens. The base had my PAK recharging station, my supply of paste, all of Gir’s spare parts, the list goes on. The Tallest were correct in assuming the planet would kill me.” Zim shrugged like he hadn’t just lost one of the only places he’d ever called home.

“Besides I’ve started something here and I intend to finish it.” He added matter-of-factly as the doors opened again and two Vortians entered. Zim visibly perked up at the sight of them and looked between the two groups. 

“Have you all been formally introduced?” Zim asked antenne quirked and holding a sleeping Gir. 

“Not really. Not a lot of time when you’re running for a ship.” Genn shrugged, earning a slap upside the head from his father. 

“Dib, Gaz, let me introduce you to Lard Nar and Genn Fer. Lard Nar was my mentor and parental figure when I worked on Vort as a smeet and is the leader of the Resisty. Genn Fer is his son and the source of most of my supplies and blueprints when I was on Earth.” Zim told the humans before turning back to the Vortians. 

“Nar, Genn, this is my mate Dib and his sister Gaz.” The Irken smiled cuddling closer to Dib’s chest. The introductions were cut short by a small explosion a few doors down followed by three smaller Vortians running into the room. 

“Daddy the weird giant alien blew something up!” They yelled before noticing Zim awake on the bed. 

“Temic Zim!!!” They screamed tackling the Irken and the human he was sitting on. 

“Smeeties!!!!” Zim grinned giving each one a nuzzle while Lard Nar excused himself to go check out the explosion. 

“You three weren’t this excited to see me.” Genn Fer pouted as one of the little Vortians turned to her father. 

“We were happy to see you but temic Zim is better.” She stated plainly before looking over the two humans.

“Who are you?” She asked as her sisters also turned to stare at the humans. 

"This is Dib and his sister Gaz." Zim told the tiny Vortians as the three looked up at the humans. 

"Humans these are Genn Fer's daughters Cherry, Cris, and Cora." The Irken finished proudly pointing to each one in turn.

"Dib? Wasn't that the name of the big headed Urth child you claimed as your delp?" Cherry asked as Zim flushed a darker green. 

"Cherry!" Zim hissed embarrassed while Genn started laughing. 

"What's a delp?" Dib asked dubiously as it seemed to click for Gaz.

"I bet it's alien for crush." Gaz smirked causing Zim to flush even darker and Dib to grin when he finally noticed his mate’s reaction to the word.

“Awe sugarbee you had a crush on me? How embarrassing.” Dib giggled as Zim turned to glare at his human

“We’re married stupid.” the Irken huffed neither noticing Gaz’s jaw hitting the floor or the return of Professor Membrane.

“Still.” Dib laughed pulling him closer causing them both to wince as their injuries were pulled at. 

“Wait what do you mean married?” Gaz demanded as the pair looked at her

“What did you think we did in Vegas?” Dib asked with a shrug still not noticing his dad short circuiting in the doorway 

“You guys went there for your senior trip! You mean to tell me you two have been married since high school?!” his sister growled while their dad came back online and the tiny Vortians got off the bed to hide behind Genn.

“It just kind of happened Gaz. Besides I was eighteen and we decided why not.” Dib explained as Zim finally noticed the Professor. 

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Membrane asked walking closer to the bed while Genn led the girls out of the room. 

“We may not have said anything but we also didn’t hide it either,” Zim stated before looking back at Dib “We were happy and with so many places offering Earth marriage we really did think why not. Yes we probably should have said something but it was our decision.” the Irken smiled leaning back against his husband.

“Well Zim’s murder spree makes sense then, welcome to the family I guess.” Gaz smirked just happy her brother was happy. Membrane still looked like he was trying to come to terms his son was an adult but even he couldn’t deny that the pair looked happy. 

“I’m still shocked to learn you’ve been married all this time but I’m very happy for you.” the Professor smiled placing a hand on Dib’s shoulder. Dib smiled back happy to finally be able to have all of his family together. Professor Membrane finally came to terms his children were adults but still seemed stuck on the fact that Zim was an alien.

"I know we're in space on a ship full of extraterrestrial beings but I'm afraid I still can't seem to wrap my head around you being an alien Zim." He confessed as his son in law leveled him with a pointed look.

"I'm real, I'm here, and I'm doing your son." Was the only thing Zim had to say on the matter as Dib choked on air behind them. After taking for a bit longer Lard Nar came back in and asked what Zim’s next move was. 

"Well eventually I need to find out what happened to the rest of the Empire and figure out what to do with the Massive. But first we need to replace Dib’s leg." Zim told him.

"Alright then next stop Costrion." Lard Nar said with a smile before heading to the helm of the ship.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and kudos if you enjoyed it! If you want to ask questions or just yell at me you can find me at Phloxfox87 on tumblr.


End file.
